ABSTRACT
Vaccine scepticism is often related to fears of potential side effects and to doubts regarding the safety and effectiveness of the injections. Alongside the medical issues, mass vaccination campaigns like the one related to the COVID-19 pandemic also have civic and epistemic effects connected to the engagement of people on the internet in matters concerning the vaccination and vaccination campaigns. Employing the concept of civic side effects, this chapter aims to discuss the civic and social epistemic consequences of public engagement spurred by major social phenomena like the global mass vaccination campaigns employed to come to terms with the pandemic. Two notable Swedish cases of civic engagement, against the vaccines and the country’s vaccination strategy, are examined and discussed. Utilising classic as well as contemporary theories on the sociology of knowledge, social epistemics, and civic engagement, the relation between knowledge, civic culture, and democracy is discussed in order to illuminate how the ongoing public deliberation concerning vaccines and vaccination policies needs to be understood in a wider democratic context.
